Does this scenario sound familiar? You wake up one morning full of enthusiasm and a sense that "today is a great day for a shopping trip." You head off to the mall full of hope and expectation, only to spend fruitless hours of disillusionment and self-loathing... and end up at the ice cream shop instead.
Don't beat yourself up. We've all been there. Almost everyone has a hard time finding just the right item that is flattering in color and style.[...]
Last year there was a fair amount of media buzz around the shocking claim that the average woman (I’m still trying to figure out just who the proverbial “average” woman is) eats around six pounds of lipstick in a lifetime. But a few brainiacs did the math and discovered that the claim was wildly exaggerated. Still, around the same time there were a couple of real studies published that described unacceptable levels of toxic chemicals found in many of our cosmetics. Suddenly that lipstick-eating story got a lot of attention again.
Any amount of […]
My hairdresser, a very handsome young man, wears the same attire every day: a black Hanes t-shirt, black jeans that are cut off just above the knee, black socks and black leather high top boots. Any skin surface that does show is covered with some colorful and pretty magnificent tattoos.
Now, you’d think that he just throws on what he was wearing the day before, but no. This is an extremely well thought-out uniform. He directs the same perfectionist’s critical eye to his attire that he does to each hair […]
Here's an exercise I do while leafing through magazines and catalogs to see what’s new in the stores and what might work in my own wardrobe. It helps me avoid impulse buys that can end up hanging in my closet unworn because they don't go with anything else.
This is how it works: If I see something I like, I look at it for a minute — keeping in mind the color, cut, trim details and proportions. Then, I look at myself in the mirror. [. . .]
You want to stay true to yourself in fashion, particularly when it comes to your colors. But sometimes you just gotta break—or temporarily bend—the rules a bit. Here’s an example.
Many years ago a woman I know had an important business meeting with a group of potential investors for a TV series she was pitching. They were known to be extremely hard bargainers, notoriously sexist and profoundly stingy. She found out ahead of time that everyone in their executive office, particularly during negotiations, dressed in white. It set their ‘tone’ as being members of a lofty pantheon of power and authority. She wore white that day. She got the sale. (Hopefully she was wearing her version of white…)
Knowing the culture of your potential client/employer or partner is an important part of establishing equal footing with and gaining respect from them. In the above example, the power of color was a significant subliminal component that helped make a positive first impression. [. . .]